Xbox Game Pass is here to stay so deal with it

Date:
Sun, 27 Mar 2022 14:30:30 +0000

Description:
Microsofts Xbox Game Pass has had its doubters, but theres no denying its positive impact on consumers and developers.

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Xbox Game Pass is the best deal in gaming. Youve probably heard that
statement ad nauseam by now but its honestly worth repeating. No other
service offers anything close to the sheer value that Microsofts gaming extravaganza provides, and its success is fundamentally why Sony is
reportedly preparing its own answer to Game Pass .

Yet some corners of the gaming community still arent convinced. The most common criticism that's leveled at Microsofts service which has amassed over 25 million subscribers is that its bad for developers. After all, if youre paying a monthly subscription fee to play a rotating selection of the hottest games available, why would you ever need to spend another penny again?

Its this type of rhetoric that many believe results in Xbox Game Pass being a hindrance to developers, rather than a means to help them make money and
build audiences. But thats categorically untrue. It turns out that Game Pass is good for developers and good for gamers as a whole. Here comes the money (Image credit: Microsoft)

During a GDC 2022 presentation called Game Pass: Maximising Your Game's Total Value , Microsoft revealed that Xbox Game Pass subscribers spend 60% more on games, 45% more on add-ons, and 45% more on consumables than those who dont subscribe. Subscribers also tend to play 40% more games than non-subscribers, often discovering new genres that they previously may have overlooked.

This, as you might expect, results in gamers either purchasing games that arent on Xbox Game Pass already or picking up titles that theyre currently enjoying at a discounted price. Every title on Microsofts service comes with
a 20% discount and DLC is also discounted by 10% it means you can own every title on Xbox Game Pass if you really desire, albeit digitally.

But what about day one launches? Surely, apart from the fee that Microsoft secretly agrees with a publisher to bring a title to Xbox Game Pass, there cant be that many benefits for developers? Well, it turns out that games that launch day one on Game Pass see a 3.5x lift in players, while games from independent developers enjoy an increase of 15x. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Xbox Game Pass has proven to be a boon for indie developers especially. Just one look at the full Game Pass library shows a litany of independently developed games, and its helped shine a spotlight on a good number of modern hits like Outer Wilds, Paradise Killer, and more recently Tunic. This has led to a triple-digit increase in revenue for independent developers, according
to Microsoft. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Weve also seen this effect happen in titles such as Forza Horizon 5 , which hit over 10 million players in the space of a week. We saw one million gamers pick up the game before it was even released , despite the fact it was coming to Xbox Game Pass. Clearly, money is being made. Undeniable value (Image credit: Microsoft)

So is the skepticism surrounding Xbox Game Pass completely unwarranted? No, not really, partly because Game Pass is the antithesis of what gamers are
used to. The video games industry has a nasty habit of making money off players at every opportunity, be it through microtransactions, season passes, or soon, NFTs. The aversion to Xbox Game Pass is understandable, then, if
seen as yet another subscription that comes out of your bank account every month.

But Game Pass really is incredible value for money, and we now have irrefutable proof that it isnt harmful to developers at all, quite the opposite. You could even make a solid argument that several big Game Pass titles, such as Sea of Thieves , have only been able to grow and maintain healthy player bases thanks to being on the service.

While you might not be excited by every game that hits the service, Microsoft reportedly added over $6,300 (around 4,780 / AU$8,823) worth of games to Game Pass in 2021, which is impressive no matter how you shake it. Its premium
tier offering, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate , includes Xbox Game Pass for console and PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming , EA Play membership, Xbox Live Gold membership,
and various monthly perks and discounts. Will the Game Pass bubble burst? (Image credit: Microsoft)

The biggest and most viable concern surrounding the future of Xbox Game Pass, then, isnt that it negatively impacts game developers or the spending habits of gamers, but whether or not Microsoft chooses to hike up the price of its service something which Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has vehemently denied.

In an interview with Axios Stephen Totilo , Spencer said: [People ask] when
is the Game Pass price going to go up? Theyre buying all these studios. You know, its inevitable. Even though its been what, now, four years we havent raised it.

But its like, You know, its coming When they are number one, theyre going to start doing all those exclusive deals that, like, you know, Xbox has history and all I can do is is make the decisions that are in front of us and try to be explicit about what our goals are.

Of course, there will be a time when the price of Xbox Game Pass goes up Sonys first-party games now cost $70 / 70 after previously being $60 / 60 for decades, and Netflix has slowly bumped up its subscription price over time.
If the same fate befalls Xbox Game Pass, itll be up to Microsoft to ensure that its service remains the attractive proposition it is today to keep players and developers happy. Xbox Game Pass vs Xbox Game Pass Ultimate : what's the difference?



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/xbox-game-pass-is-here-to-stay-so-deal-with-it/


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